South Africa’s Retief Goosen, The European Tour’s current Number One, will be the mean to beat at this week’s HSBC World Match Play Championship as he takes the place of his injured friend and compatriot Ernie Els as the Number One seed in a hugely talented 16 man field that includes seven European Ryder Cup winners and five Major champions, who will all be eyeing that £1 million first prize – the richest in world golf.
Fresh from his victory in the Linde German Masters, Goosen replaces six time HSBC World Match Play champion Els as the Number One seed, with Angel Cabrera of Argentina returning to the scene of his sparkling BMW Championship victory as the Number Two.
Englishman Luke Donald is the third highest ranked player of the 16 – one place ahead of US Open Champion, Michael Campbell of New Zealand.
That formidable top four are backed up by 2004 Ryder Cup record breakers David Howell, Paul McGinley and Colin Montgomerie as well as their Captain Bernhard Langer, while Major Champions Steve Elkington and José Maria Olazábal add their considerable presence to the tournament.
There are eight intriguing first round matches, with some of The European Tour’s most established players set to tackle the emerging superstars of world golf over the 36 hole test of mental and physical skill that is the famous West Course at the Wentworth Club in Surrey, England.
The first round encounters featuring Goosen and Kenneth Ferrie of England, Donald versus Langer, Howell versus Olazábal, and Cabrera versus South African Trevor Immelman all come into that fascinating bracket where some of The European Tour’s most experienced and proven champions will come up against golf’s next generation of potential world beaters.
Goosen, twice a US Open Champion and the current Order of Merit leader following his victory in Germany last weekend will face a tough test from Ferrie, who transformed his career by winning the Smurfit European Open in July.
Donald versus Langer has the potential to be one of the ties of the tournament. Seen by many observers as a potential pretender to Langer’s throne given his temperament and style, Donald, currently the World Number 14, will bring out the best in his Ryder Cup Captain from 2004.
The matches between Howell and Olazábal, and Cabrera taking on Immelman also have the potential to be classics, while the Wentworth crowds will have four other treats in store.
Campbell and Geoff Ogilvy will surely be playing for national pride as the New Zealander takes on the Australian, while South Africa’s Tim Clark will face former US PGA Champion Steve Elkington.
The HSBC World Match Play Championship would not be the same without 1999 Champion Montgomerie, and there will be plenty of thrills in the seven time Order of Merit winner’s battle with the emerging Australian talent of Scandinavian Masters by Carlsberg champion Mark Hensby.
Meanwhile, two of The European Tour’s most popular Ryder Cup players – Thomas Björn of Denmark and Ireland’s Paul McGinley – will go head to head for a place in the last eight. Björn was involved in a memorable Final battle with Els two years ago as the South African picked up his fifth HSBC World Match Play title, while, as the man who holed the winning putt in the 2002 Ryder Cup, McGinley’s match play credentials are undisputable.
